Annabeth's Giant Stuffed Bear, CAB

Each student's journey at Holy Cross is unique. After arriving on campus, emotions can range from the excitement of starting something new to the sadness of leaving something familiar behind and everything in between. It may take time to feel like they belong. So we’ve asked our students: when was the moment you fell in love with Holy Cross?                  

Annabeth Morris ’27 tells the story of how a game of bingo and a giant stuffed bear led to finding some of her best friends:

"My first few days at Holy Cross were not necessarily what I expected, given my adamant insistence to myself that I was going to love college. I watched with worry as everyone around me somehow already seemed to have found their best friends. I knew that to develop true friendships I had to proceed with patience, but I couldn’t help but feel a bit lonely. 

One night, I heard about a musical bingo event in Hogan sponsored by the Campus Activities Board (CAB), and even though I was hesitant to put my skills to the test (my social skills, that is, not my musical bingo ones), I decided to go. At the bingo night, I sat at a table with two other nervous freshmen, Victor and Jack.  

While we combined our different music tastes to name songs across all the featured genres, we got to talking and realized we were all in the same dorm and even the same Montserrat class! As luck would have it, we ended up winning the big prize, a HUGE stuffed bear now known and loved by our friend group as 'CAB.' 

As Victor, Jack and I walked back to Clark Hall, giant bear in tow, I remember feeling like everything was going to be okay. As I struggled to type their numbers into my phone while holding CAB, I felt relieved to find people I could talk to beyond the “what’s your major and where are you from?” conversations that I had been worried I would never get past. 

As a testament to the 'small world' moments one encounters at a smaller school like Holy Cross, I learned as our conversation continued that they already knew two of the very few people that I had connected with on campus, Julia and Noah. Together, the five of us braved the first football game that weekend. The beginning of these friendships and the many more that have developed along the way is what made me fall in love with Holy Cross."